In Madrid, people drink to socialize. In Barcelona, they play sports to socialize (and drink, too). And while I love the architecture and food more in Madrid, I would obviously rather play sports than drink. I didn’t get to try Padel this time, but I got some lovely bike rides in with new friends!

The best part of Barcelona was the co-working infrastructure. The place I joined ($99 for a week pass) had desks, phone booths, a rooftop pool, and a gym. Score.

My Spanish definitely improved this month! Considering my Portuguese is starting from zero, we’ll see how much I can pick up this week…

Do you believe in airport theory? If you don’t know what that is…

I am so glad I started posting more content this year. I’ve been invited to events, made new friends (shoutout to Justin and Andy in Barcelona!), learned new things, and rekindled friendships all from my posts. Super grateful for you following along.

Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia Cathedral is much further along than 10 years ago when I last visited. Really cool to see them putting the finishing touches on this 150-year construction project at the most beautiful and unique cathedral in the world.

Treatly is now live in the app store!

I’ve now made $15 off purchases (just cosmetic perks) within my sweet treat tracking app, Treatly.

It’s not paying any bills, but it’s great validation that I can build something for fun and find ways to get rewarded for that, too.

Add me @mitten on the app!

One concern I think a lot of business owners have right now is whether AI will put them out of business. Like many others, we are adapting and have already been able to realize internal efficiencies and sales efficiencies due to AI tools, ramping up with the new features within Claude over the last few months.

If you’re using these tools to grow and improve your business, I’d love to know what you’re up to, and I’m happy to share what we’re doing over here to win.

I can’t share everything yet about the team we’re assembling over here, but it feels a bit like The Avengers. Big things coming this year for Micro Investing - more to come.

I am really loving the Beehiiv platform. It’s allowed me to make over $100 in sponsorship revenue so far, understand my audience and newsletter analytics well, and make improvements over time.

If you hate your current newsletter / email platform (like I did before), click here to see how I’m getting more out of this one.

On May 6, I’m giving a talk at The Charlotte ETA Group’s Meetup on marketing for business growth. It will apply to searchers looking for an acquisition, as well as operators. As I prepare, I’ve learned some amazing tips and frameworks about presentations of this kind from my friends Sean, Caleb, Michael, and others. Thanks for the pointers, and I can’t wait to provide value to our community in Charlotte in May!

I learned this week you should never take services at face value. A 30 min Lime e-bike ride in Barcelona cost $10 by default, but you can save 70% by purchasing “minutes” ahead of time. Sadly it took me 3 rides to realize that. Luckily, I realized that on ride 3 out of 12 for the week.

I got back into a few podcasts / YouTube videos this week:

$120. That’s the amount I spent on Lime Bike rides and Metro rides in Barcelona - the city is quite spread out!

$0. The amount of foreign ATM fees I will be paying from here on out. Thanks, Haydn, for the Fidelity debit card rec. I already have a Fidelity account, so I was able to get approved and get my new fee-free debit card nearly instantly!

Full month budget breakdown coming soon…

Yesterday I arrived in Lisbon (it’s my first time here) and I intend to make the most of it! So far it’s 70 degrees and sunny so I think it’ll be a great week.

Then, I’ll be back in North Carolina for a week before going to spend a few weeks in Medellin, Colombia with my friend Mike and some other founders.